


Stone House Waters

by for_t2



Category: Original Work
Genre: Being Lost, Dark Magic, Death, F/F, Forests, Hockey, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Nausea, Sickfic, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21587635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: They shouldn't have touched the water, no matter how thirsty they were
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 5





	Stone House Waters

Cass didn't know how much longer she could take it.

The squirming, twisting feeling that started in her stomach and then burrowed up her veins, around her throat. The way every nerve felt like it needed to move, to escape. The way her hands wouldn't stop shaking, her eyes wouldn't stop flittering. The way the nausea rolled over, again and again and again.

She just wanted it to stop.

She just wanted it to go away.

She just wanted to go away.

"Hey." Cass barely managed to focus on Ash's voice, on the way her hands wrapped her grey hoodie around Cass's shoulders.

"Hey."

Ash dangled her feet over the edge as she sat down next to Cass on the cracked black tiles of the roof. "You feeling better yet?"

Cass shook her head, which just sent another wave of nausea through her, hunching her body tighter around itself.

"Don't worry." Ash pulled Cass in, arms around her waist. "You'll be okay."

It was just like Ash. Brave, strong, stoic Ash. The toughest hardest defender on the team, who barely flinched when a puck knocked out five of her teeth, and didn't flinch at all when the coach told her, in that terrible calm tone, that she would be cut from the team if she didn't start passing her classes. Ash just nodded and got to work. And passed, with flying colours. And maybe that's what scared Cass most of all - even Ash was barely able to stay still.

"I promise." Ash said, her voice low and just steady enough to give hope, as Cass tried to rest her head on her shoulder.

"You promise?"

"Yes."

Cass wasn't like Ash. None of that raw strength and power, but she made up for it in flexibility, in focus, in that awarness that clears her thoughts, and leaves her alone on the crowded rink. The first time she had ever gone on a date, the other girl ditched her halfway through her coffee, with an excuse of Cass being too intense. Goalies always are the weird ones, and, once, it would've made Cass feel better if she was the starter, and not just the humble backup. Once, it would've given her a reason to show off, a reason for other people to stick with her. Once. Now, all she could do is try to stop herself from crying into Ash's chest.

"It'll be okay." Cass could hear the effort Ash put into those words, the way her voice strained. "It'll be okay."

"I knew it was a bad idea." And Cass couldn't stop herself from sobbing, just a few tears, a few heavy gulps.

And maybe, in retrospect, it was. Maybe the entire trip was a bad idea. The season was just about to begin, or maybe it had already started, they've in these woods for what seems like forever, Cass can't really remember. But when they stumbled onto the stone house, when they were so so thirsty and the water that trickled out of the taps was so clear and so perfect...

"I knew it."

"Shhh." Cass could feel Ash's hands rubbing her back in some vain attempt to sooth her.

It hurt.

God, it hurt so much.

"Shh." Cass could feel Ash's body teeter, the small tremors infecting her muscles.

And then, Cass felt nothing. Ash just stopped. "Ash?"

Her seemed to shudder Ash awake. "Cass." She blinked. Fumbled for the silver necklace she always always wore, a small representation of the constellation Cygnus, a story which she told Cass once after a game where Cass let in six goals and which she swore her to secrecy. "You'll be okay." She slipped it around Cass's neck, along with the gentlest kiss to Cass forehead. "I promise."

"You too."

Silence.

"Ash?"

Silence.

"Ash?"

Cass could barely bring herself to lift up her head. "Ash?"

Ash just sat there. Silent. Still. Staring out at the endless trees, the horizon lost somewhere in the wild.

There wasn't anything Cass could say. Nothing that would quiet the squirming inside her, the fear and the heartbreak that promised to drown her.

Not until Ash turned her head towards her.

"Ash?"

Her eyes.

Bloodshot.

Dead.

"Ash?"

Dead.

_Seeing._

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a surprisingly vivid dream


End file.
